Hughes Research Laboratories
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- HRL redirects here. For the U.S. airport, see Valley International Airport.
Hughes Research Laboratories, the research arm of the former Hughes Aircraft Company, was established in 1960 in Malibu as a premiere research center. Currently owned by General Motors Corporation and Boeing, the research facility is housed in two large, white multi-story buildings overlooking Malibu Canyon Road and the Pacific Ocean.
[edit] History
In the 1940s, Howard Hughes created a R&D facility in Culver City, California; by 1960, it moved to Malibu, California. In 1985 the U.S. Federal Courts declared in a court case that the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, in order to retain its non-profit status, must divest itself of Hughes Aircraft Company and subsidiaries. General Motors purchased Hughes Aircraft, and almost immediately began selling off parts of the company. GM retained control of Hughes Research Laboratories until the mid-1990s, when it sold the research center to Raytheon and Boeing. GM later bought back control of Hughes Research Laboratories, while Raytheon was forced to sell its stake, though Raytheon maintains strong research and contractual relations with Hughes Research Laboratories. Through a series of business transactions, Hughes Research Laboratories was brought under the ownership of Boeing and General Motors, its LLC partners. For more detail, please see Hughes Aircraft. It receives funding from its LLC partners, US defense contracts, and other commercial customers.
[edit] Other facts
The first working model of the laser was created at Hughes Research Laboratories in 1960 by Theodore Maiman (1927-2007).
Hughes Research Laboratories focuses on advanced developments in microelectronics, information & systems sciences, materials, sensors, and photonics; their workspace spans from basic research to product delivery. It has particularly emphasized capabilities in high performance integrated circuits, high power lasers, antennas, networking, and smart materials.
With downsizing during the aerospace industry's contraction of the 1990s, HRL still continues to be the largest employer in Malibu.
